Ten Years Gone
by The Moon's Heart
1. Default Chapter

He walked into her office; my, what a mess! He thought to himself. It had been twenty years since he had seen her; one day they were completely happy and married and the next, she was gone. It wasn't like it wasn't his fault; because it was. He was the reason that she had left without a word. He had done it again; the very thing she had warned him against. After college was over, he had gotten a job as a manager for Jonathan Tyler. Being out on the road was hard for them but they had managed. She stayed home with their daughter Clara while he traveled and helped spread Tyler's name around. Tyler had become an instant hit and they were immediately rich. Things were great for five years until she found out about his cheating in a book about Tyler's career. He hadn't even realized that the author of the book would put that in his book; he thought he would only tell about Tyler so he gave him all the info about what happened back stage.   
  
It had been three months, and Jackie hadn't contacted him. When he returned home, he had found out why. There sitting on the table, was a note and a copy of the book. He could hear and feel the anger in her words; but he never took them seriously. He just shrugged his shoulders and went upstairs. She just needed time to cool off he thought to himself; but after a few months, he realized that that was not the case and so he went in search of her to no avail. She had taken Clara with her and that was the last time that he had seen Jackie.   
  
A few years later however, she did contact through the mail; with divorce papers. She told him that she expect to have them no later than the end of the week but he didn't sign them and she didn't ask for them back; she did however try again, a couple years later but he still refused to sign them. It was during this time, that he had become frustrated with her and decided to seek her out but she was clever about where her whereabouts were. After a while he decided to move on with his life, and so he took a job managing another talented group. There was one thing that he wouldn't do and that was sign divorce papers.   
  
So thirteen years went by before he heard from her again and that was why he was in her office right now. She had finally decided to let her whereabouts be known; well, not really. He had tricked one of her friends into revealing where she was. He had taken the first flight out to Alaska and quickly found out that she was a professor at the University of Alaska.   
  
When he had requested to speak to her, they had told him that there was no Jackie Hyde. How could there not be a Jackie Hyde he had asked the receptionist. She said there wasn't a Jackie Hyde but there was a Jackie Burkhart. He gave the receptionist a nasty look and then continued down the hall until he reached an elevator. When he had reached her office, he didn't bother to knock, he just went right in; but she wasn't there. So he decided to wait for her to come back. He got up from the guest's chair and started to look around her office. He looked up on the wall and saw that Jackie had a PH.D in English Lit Philosophy. He shook his head and couldn't believe it; Jackie a PH.D in Philosophy? He then took notice of the thousands of papers lying on her desk. Some of them had grades and comments written on them while others had nothing at all. Then he saw what he was looking for; it was a picture of Jackie and a young girl. He knew that it was Clara. She was standing outside with her mother. They both had long brow hair and blue eyes; then he saw another picture next to that one, it was Clara at her graduation, and then there was one with Clara and her prom date, and then he saw one of her that brought him rage and envy.   
  
Clara was in a long white gown standing next to her mother; she never had the decency to mention his little girl's wedding. How old was she now? She must have been twenty-one there which meant that she was at least twenty-three years old now; his blood began to boil and he decided to sit down again before he saw something else that would make him angry. As he sat back down, a young woman came into Jackie's office and piled another load of papers down onto the desk. Without noticing Hyde, she began to sort through the mess on Jackie's desk carefully. He examined the young girl closely and noticed that she looked warn out and tired at the same time. She pulled out a key and opened one of Jackie's drawers; she laid a package of photos down and then locked the drawer back up. She picked her head up and finally noticed Hyde sitting in the seat watching her. She jumped when she saw him and then went to pick the phone up but Hyde quickly took it from her hands.  
  
"Excuse me sir, what do you think you are doing in here without Professor Burkhart's permission?" She asked him.   
  
"Waiting for the dear old professor to return to her office; tell me, when will she back?" He asked the young girl.  
  
"I don't know." She replied.  
  
"Oh I think you know; and now wouldn't be a good time to get on my nerves if you know what's good for you that is. Now tell me when the professor will be back." Hyde demanded.  
  
"She won't be back until later tonight." She responded.  
  
"Are you lying to me?" He asked her.  
  
"No sir I'm not; she won't be back for another three hours." She said.  
  
"Fine then; will you tell Professor Burkhart that she had a visitor today." Hyde said.  
  
"Fine but what is your name?" The young woman asked him.  
  
"Just tell her an old friend dropped by." Hyde said.  
  
"Okay then." She said to him.  
  
As he was leaving he heard the phone ring and watched as the young girl picked it up; he was going to leave until he heard her name.  
  
"Clara, how are you doing? Wow that's great; so you guys enjoy your trip to Canada? Well, yeah I bet it was cold up there. So when do you start your new internship? Yes, your mother is doing fine. She's really tired out from that trip to England that she took last week. I can't believe she came into work so soon..."  
  
Hyde walked to the elevator; so life had indeed gone on without him. Clara had grown-up and moved on and so did Jackie. Well things were going to change; he was going to emerge himself back into there lives whether they wanted him there are not but first he was going to teach Ms. Burkhart a thing or two about revenge.   
  
Jackie ran to the elevator to catch up to it; she had stopped by her office quickly to see if Annette had gotten in alright without any problems. As soon as she was sure that everything was alright she ran to catch up to the man that was waiting impatiently for the elevator to arrive. She caught up to him and went into the elevator casually without paying attention to him at all. Hyde stood on the other end of the elevator. Jackie looked up from the floor and looked at the man. If she didn't know any better she would have thought that she was staring right at Steven Hyde; well an older version of him that was. Well, she imagined that Steven Hyde would look much older than the man standing before her. This man was cute and Steven Hyde was nothing but a liar and a cheater; still the man did look like him but that was nuts to think. Steven Hyde had never even bother to contact her in twenty years; only to deny her a divorce when she asked for one. She really couldn't do anything about it; if she tried to fight him, he would learn where she was and that was something she would never reveal in a million years. The elevator finally came to a complete stop.  
  
Hyde looked over at the woman standing on the opposite of the elevator. She looked like she was only thirty years old. She had long dark hair; her suit gave away that she was indeed a professor. She wore three bracelets and four rings; except on her left ring finger that is. He smiled at her motioned for her to go ahead of him. She smiled back at him and got out of the elevator. They both walked in opposite directions not realizing that after twenty-years they had finally come into contact with one another.   
  
Jackie's phone went off as soon as she got into her car. She rolled her eyes up in the air.   
  
"Hello." She said.  
  
"Professor Burkhart." Annette said.  
  
"Yes, Annette; what is it?" She asked her.  
  
"I forgot to tell you there was a gentleman here to see you today." Annette said.  
  
"What did he say?" She asked Annette.  
  
"He said to tell you that he stopped by; he said he was an old friend." Annette said.  
  
"An old friend; well, I don't know who that could be...oh no...Annette, did he have curly hair." Jackie asked.  
  
"Yes, he did; I found him in your office when I came in here today." Annette.  
  
"Oh God; please don't let it be him." She said and then hung up.  
  
Jackie nervously drove to the other side of the class. After all these years of finally being out of his grasp, he had finally found her; or maybe he hadn't. She thought to herself. 


	2. Then As It Was, Then Again It Will Be

It began as beautiful sunny day in the town of Ackor, Alaska. Clara had just arrived home when the clouds began to move in. She got out of her new truck and ran inside. The house, as usually, was a complete mess. Boxes filled ever inch of the living room and the kitchen. Clara and Greg were getting ready to move to Florida; it had been twenty years since she had any type of contact with her father. In fact, she didn't even really remember him at all; the last real memory that she had of him was the time that he had sat up with her when she was sick other than that his face was anything but clear to her. If he were to come up to her right now and say that he was her father, she wouldn't be able to tell if he was lying or not.   
  
She did however, remember her dear mother's face quite well. She had raised her from the time she was three until she made it into college. She was there when she graduated college and made it into med school. She was moving down to Florida to finish med school and because she had been offered an internship at one of the local hospitals.   
  
Still, she sometimes wondered what life would be like if she had grown up with a father. She remembered when her mother took back to the states when she was about four years old; they were living in England at the time. She remembered how her mother hurried her out of bed late at night and made her get into the car. She didn't say anything; but she could tell by her mother's face that something was definitely wrong. There are many things that one forgets about at a young age; but this event, haunted Clara throughout her childhood. One moment, things seem to be fine and the next they were running away from England and away from her father. She never really understood why her mother had decided to leave her father.   
  
Unlike most people, her parents weren't divorce because her mother couldn't get her father to sign the papers. When she asked her one time why she just didn't force him into signing by taking him to court, she said that was not an option and left it at that; and unlike most divorce couples, her mother never had a bad thing to say about her father. In fact, she rarely ever talked about him. It was like he didn't exist at all. Clara even thought at one time that maybe he didn't exist because she couldn't see his face.   
  
He just a blur buried deep into her past nothing more and nothing less. It was beginning to pour and that meant that she would have to load the boxes in the pouring rain all by herself since Greg wasn't home yet. The phone rang but Clara decided that the machine could take a message for her; she had had enough for the day. It seemed as if everyone kept calling her for the past week and a half.   
  
  
  
  
  
"Hey Clara, this is you mother and I just wanted to tell you that I can't make it for dinner tonight. I'm sorry honey but I have tones of work to do. Talk to you later. Love ya." Jackie said over the machine.  
  
  
  
  
  
Clara listened to the message, smiled to herself, and then went back to packing and carrying boxes to the car. There was one thing her mother always did and that was to tell her ahead of time her scheduled. Clara remembered how hard her mother worked to get where she was today. She remembered all of the crappy apartments they had to live in. She was always at work or going to school but she always made sure not to miss out on her daughter's life. When she was about eleven years old, her mother had finally been able to get herself through school with a PH.D. They finally were able to move out their crappy apartment and into something a bit decent.   
  
She remembered how they both celebrated her new job and her graduation from school. It was just the two of them; when she asked her mother if she had any family or friends that she wanted to invite over she immediately said no. This is exactly why the memory of fleeing England creeped her out so much. What was her mother running from? She hoped and prayed that she wasn't in any type of danger.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He drove down the street until he came to a small white house; there was a wooden mailbox and a huge oak tree in the front yard. So, this was where she lived; his daughter that is. He saw a truck parked outside and guessed that it must have been either Clara's or her husband's truck. He was so excited to see her; as soon as he pulled up to her house though, he backed down. He couldn't just go up to her door and say hey I'm your dad. Especially since he didn't know how she would react to seeing him. He had no clue what Jackie had told her about him and he had to make sure that she would listen and understand first. He was deep in thought about the situation that he didn't feel a young woman tap his car window. He quickly looked up and realized it was her; he began to feel his stomach get all twisted in knots.  
  
  
  
  
  
"You must be here to see the place. I hope you don't mind the mess." She said to him.  
  
"Um...yeah, that's right I'm here to see the place." He said to her.  
  
"I'm glad that you came; I was beginning to think that you weren't going to come at all and I was really getting worried." She said to him.  
  
"I'm really sorry that I was late; so where are you moving to?" He asked her.  
  
"To Florida; remember I told you over the phone earlier today?" She asked him.  
  
"Oh yes, that's right; I must have forgotten, sorry about that." He said to her.  
  
"That's alright; well, come on inside. It's much warmer and dryer in there than it is out here." He said to her.  
  
"Okay, let me park my car." Hyde said.  
  
  
  
  
  
Clara smiled at her unknown father and walked back inside. Hyde smiled back at her and was grateful that he would get to see and talk to her without her knowing. He got out of the car and walked up the path that led to her house. When he reached the front door he looked inside and noticed that there were thousands of boxes lying all over the place. He went inside and closed the door.   
  
Clara came down the hallway and he was happy to finally get a real a glimpse of his daughter. She had short dark hair and was a bit taller than Jackie; she wore bracelets and a Cross with a diamond in the middle of it. She smiled at him and led him down the hallway. There sitting in boxes were pictures of Clara, Jackie, and what Hyde thought to be her husband.   
  
One of the pictures had all three of them at a bar. Clara and her husband had shots in their hands while Jackie was holding a bottle of water in her left hand. They were all smiling and they were all very happy; Hyde became angry once again and soon remembered why he had come all the way to Alaska. Jackie was going to indeed pay for making him miss out in Clara's life.   
  
Clara showed him to one of the smaller rooms in the house; there were boxes full of pictures and clothing. Hanging on the door was Clara's wedding dress. Sitting next to the dress was a box full of wedding pictures. Hyde picked up one of the pictures and stared at it intently.  
  
"So this must be your wedding day." He said to her.  
  
"Ah yes it is; I'm sorry about the mess." She said to him.   
  
"That's alright. You and your mother look really happy here." He said to her.  
  
"That's probably because we are; she's the greatest. I'm so glad that I have her in my life." Clara said.  
  
"So this must be you father; right?" He asked her.  
  
"Oh no, that's just a guy my mom use to work with. He walked me down the isle. My mother and him use to date but then he left her when she couldn't get a divorce from my father." Clara said.  
  
"Oh wow." He said.  
  
"Well, that's probably way to much information for you isn't it?" Clara asked him.  
  
"No, that's quiet alright. So your mother ever get that divorce from him." He asked.  
  
"Well, no she didn't. I keep telling her to just take him to court over it but she says that he'll no where she is if he does that. So it makes me think that she's really terrified of him for some reason. My guess is that he was either controlling or abusive." Clara said.  
  
"No he wasn't." Hyde accidentally said.  
  
"What do you mean he wasn't?" She asked him.  
  
"I just mean that maybe she just doesn't want him back in your lives." Hyde said.  
  
"Hmm...well, maybe I don't know. Listen, I got to get going; it was nice talking to you. If you have any questions feel free to call the real estate agent." Clara said.  
  
  
  
  
  
Hyde walked out of the house; angrier than ever. After all this time, this is what she let Clara believe that he was an abusive controlling person. He never touched nor emotionally abused her ever. Jackie was going to fall hard and he was going to make sure it happened soon.   
  
  
  
  
  
Clara went to answer the door; standing there was a man.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Excuse me, I'm sorry that I'm late." He said.  
  
"Late for what?" She asked him.  
  
"Late to see the house." He said to her.  
  
"Are you Mr. Arenoe?" She asked.  
  
"Yes I am." He said to her.  
  
"Oh no, if your Mr. Arenoe than who the hell did I show the house to?" She asked herself out loud.  
  
  
  
  
  
Author Note: Ackor isn't real I just made it up. 


End file.
